No wonder she was loud. Even Milly, ignorant of most of society’s finer points, understood what it meant for a ducal house to shift allegiance; it could turn the entire kingdom on its head. Dukes were among the few who could speak directly to the crown, and in Aviria, where the grand duke rarely bothered with governance, the three ducal houses carried even greater weight.
And Nicholas was casually offering to trade away that kind of power here, in the infirmary of the academy. No sane person would.
“I know what I’m saying,” Nicholas insisted. “I didn’t toss the offer out thoughtlessly.”
“You don’t know at all! Do you realize how much one ducal house can alter the course of the kingdom?”
“That’s exactly why I do know. Listen, Milly.” The raven-haired girl’s exasperation had made her lean forward, but Nicholas only shook his head calmly. “I’m saying this to you. I wouldn’t speak like this to just anyone.”
“What?”
“To be frank, I think the grand duke’s house is dreadful. Your father—puffed up with power, cruel as he is—well, you know what I mean. But next in line is either you or whomever you choose to marry.”
There was something in his voice that silenced her. Usually, his mumbling delivery made her want to shout at him to speak from the diaphragm, but this time she couldn’t help but listen.
“The volume of your voice aside, I still hold you in high esteem. Thinking long-term, siding with the grand duke’s house wouldn’t be such a foolish move.”
Milly remained quiet.
“And if I could count on your brains, well, I couldn’t ask for a better deal.”
Milly stared at the murky eyes behind his lenses for several seconds in silence. He didn’t look as if he were joking. He really meant it. Nicholas was ready to bargain away his own house. She simply couldn’t fathom it.
“You would go that far just to keep your family from learning about some incident at the academy?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He shook his head. “That, I can’t tell you.”
“So if I help with one petty investigation, you’ll hand over your entire house’s allegiance?”
“That’s right. If you asked for it, I’d even throw in a finger or two on top.”
“I’ll pass on that.” Milly looked down.
Nicholas pressed on. “To be blunt, your family—the grand duke’s house—has a wretched reputation in this kingdom.”
The air in the room shifted with that single line. Milly had no answer, because it was true. She had felt it time and again. The Asteara house was despised.
Ike was the clearest example. He hated Milly for no other reason than her birth in the grand duke’s house. And only minutes ago, when she’d been accused of slipping poison into a cup, not a single voice in the crowd had risen to defend her.
Again, the reason was simple: Milly Asteara was the grand duke’s daughter. That alone was enough for prejudice to cling to her, as if it were her birthright.
“Considering His Grace’s record, it’s hardly surprising. The man lashes out at lesser nobles over the smallest slight.”
“Stripping families of their lands isn’t ‘lashing out.’ It’s tyranny.”
“Fair point. But honestly, I think once His Majesty, who dotes on your father, passes away, the grand duke’s house will find itself in dire straits.”
Milly’s face darkened. There was an edge of truth in Nicholas’s words. Once His Majesty passes away...
The current king—Eisen Fritzner, Gilbert’s father—would be dead within two years. At least, that was how it had unfolded before time turned back. He had suddenly succumbed to illness, and Milly had no reason to believe things would play out any differently in this world.
“Dire straits,” they said. That’s exactly what happened.
When Eisen died, the grand duke’s house lost the crown’s protection. Without it, the great lords turned on them with open hostility. Of course, her father’s history played its part, but the fiercest fuel had come from the succession dispute among the three princes. With tempers in the nobility already running hot, the grand duke’s house became the lightning rod for every grievance.
In the end, Gilbert exposed father’s treason, and that’s how he became king, wasn’t it?
Her father, who had sold the kingdom’s secrets to foreign powers, was executed. And Milly herself had been slain by Angelina. These were memories she wanted nothing to do with. Not even one of them.
“But if my house stands at your side, perhaps that future can be rewritten.”
Milly’s head jerked up. Nicholas’s expression carried a new gravity. In her memory, Eisen Fritzner, the present king, would be dead in two years. She had never dwelled on it before, but thinking back, it was only after Eisen’s passing that her father’s strange, treacherous behavior had begun.
If His Majesty’s death and the grand duke’s fall from favor were the sparks that drove father to betraying the realm... Her teeth pressed into her bottom lip as she considered it. If the Einzdohr dukes truly stood behind them, perhaps that future could be averted. If the grand duke’s ruin could be avoided, it would be the first step toward vengeance on Angelina as well.
After all, every friend she sought—every effort to embody the “final boss”—was for that one purpose: to outlast Angelina and claim her revenge. And if a ducal house could be made her ally, then there was no choice to make. None at all.
“Very well. I’ll help find the culprit. And your family will keep its silence.” Before she realized it, the words had already slipped from Milly’s lips.
Nicholas laughed—she’d never seen him laugh before—and before she could think much more, he nodded firmly. “All right, then. Now for the real business. Let’s get to it and find whoever’s responsible for the poisoned teacup.”